Hello, Backpacknjack. It's good to have you on the board and see you expressing your opinions. I always enjoy reading what you write, be it here or in geocache logs. Your writings are always interesting and very often instructive. I see that Lil Sister is the newest member on the board. Good to have her also.

There's no doubt about it, putting out a theme cache makes it somewhat restrictive. I've often wondered why I did such a thing. I guess I thought it was a good idea at the time. The Health & Beauty cache doesn't get much traffic and I think it's probably because of the location and the hike involved. But I hate to think someone would pass it up because they didn't have a theme item to trade. I've thought about changing the description and doing away with the theme but just never got around to it. I'll probably be changing it soon.

I don't really have a problem with theme caches, if someone wanted to place one. The difference between that and travel bugs as I see it is the fact that someone "owns" a TB and watches it's movement with great interest, as even you do. I doubt if anybody could care less if the wet wipes you placed in health and beauty were stuck there a long time because no one had theme items to swap. Not so with travel bugs.

Well Geezer, I have thoughts but danged if I have any answers.
When I first saw "travelbug hotels" I thought they were a good ideal to help those ones, that are on long missions/task like mine, get into the hands of those "wayfaring cachers", mostly along the interstates and needing a fun break. I have sense then (here I go again), as best I can remember, heard them called death traps. I can see (as you do) that putting all your eggs in one basket has it's risk but all our caches and their contents are at risk. I was the last recorded visitor to one cache that came up MIA. I took my sister to let her find it but it was gone. I did the fake cell phone bit, got out my walking stick/cane and did the old man just stretching his legs, etc. but even though no muggles were around (not like in rest stops with lots of lookers) it went MIA anyway. When you drop TBs out there they are at the mercy of anyone who finds them just like everything else in the cache. I still see TB stops as theme caches but with expensive tags inside.
TB story: One TB headed to Washington DC sits in New Jersey. Another headed to Washington State ends up in Jersey just miles away vie way of New Mexico. My third one, picked up at a TB stop on I-40, is now MIA.
There are a lot of really nice people in this world but if you think they will respect your stuff the way you do then just loan out your lawnmower or chainsaw or boat or sewing machine and see what happens to them. These same people are intrusted with your cache or your TB or you believe they will replace your foreign coins with others of equal value? I just put it out there and see what the results are. I feel some are just using caches as a second source of income but that is just the nature of our game.

Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time.

Should the person that is holding a travel bug be contacted by the owner and reminded that they have had it for a period of time? I think if it were something else that I would do so. I have one that has been in the hands of someone for several weeks now.

Hello, bmwrider. It's good to have you on board. Does bmw, by any chance, stand for British Motor Works? Just a wild guess.

I don't think it's at all out of line to contact someone who has held your TB for a long time. Keep this in mind, though. Your purpose is to motivate them to do something. So you have to word it in a way so as not to antagonize them. I have contacted people holding my TB twice, once with success and once without.

For the Event this weekend I contacted all the person's who's travel bugs I will place and got the permission from them to do it that way.
They all thanked me for asking them before we did it.

I want to make sure there is no more of the "TB abuse" that was spoke of at a another event.

As far as that goes I have had one of my TB held for about a year now,that's TB abuse.
I have e-mailed them several times and they stated I will get it out there.
It's still there,in there hands
But on the other hand I have one TB that has 18,000 miles.

Hello Geezer, BMW is for Bavarian Motor Works and in my case a motorcycle, I even road it to Flint Rock Hills, Mo last year and stopped by a moble home that had a cache clue in a butterfly house right over a bench mark. That was a cool one. Donít you think so GEO
I have put out several jeepís and find that some of them just seem to run out of gas because they have not moved in a long time. I was thinking maybe a friendly reminder. I know they are not MY travel bugs but I was the first to place them. And I donít think they are being held just because they are ĎcuteĒ after all you can go to walmart and buy one.

Yes GEO Has a couple of cute ones.
And I am working on a couple of doozies.
I have seen the jeeps and have not wanted to grab too many up out of cache's beings I have a few that I have logged in.
I will give them a little longer and if no one grabs them I will.
I have a couple of neat one's I have well ,you'll see.
I wonder how many JEEP TB's are just being held for posterity and for collecting purposes,you can't buy them at Walmart these are numbered JEEP TB's editions.

I did get the trike link too.I am not quite that ready yet I do have a Harley Davidson Trike (TRUCK SERIES)that I have had an eye on for a while.
It i always a pleasure to meet other geocachers,that was the goal of those 2 caches (3)1 leg of a cache in the front yard.
good way to maintain them too.